Hydro Adventures:The Mystery Of Ballade
by Azura the Deoxys
Summary: The next installment in the Hydro Adventures series. Two mysterious robots, Quint and Ballade, appear. One is good, one is evil. But who? Hydro doesn't know who’s on which side…
1. Prelude to the Mystery

**Hydro Adventures: The Mystery Of Ballade**

The next installment in the Hydro Adventures series. Two mysterious robots, Quint and Ballade, appear. One is good, one is evil. But who? Hydro can't tell who's on which side…

NOTE: This story has many details about Quint and Ballade that have been changed. Don't like the changes, then don't read the story. Flaming gets you nowhere but in trouble, so no flames please. Also, I'm collaborating with Ryo-Ohki RoseFox again, and he'll help me with this entire series in fact. Now, before I go off on a tangent, on with the story. Enjoy!

**Chapter 1: Prelude To The Mystery**

(3rd person POV)

Sometime in the distant future, humans have been wiped off the face of the Earth. Only robots inhabit the darkened Earth in this future. Somewhere in the ruins of what was once Monsteropolis, two robots, a green one and a purple one, where fighting fiercely.

"Ugh… why must you get in my way?" said the purple one, rubbing his shoulder.

"I must stop you. There is not even a snowball's chance in hell that I'd allow you to do this," said the green one. He looked at the purple robot that was standing some distance away. The green one rubbed his hands on the handlebars of the device he was riding on, a red device that was a strange amalgamation of pogo stick and jackhammer.

"I must do it, Quint. Don't try to stop me," the purple robot said, before looking up to the darkened skies and spread out his arms, before a portal opened above his head and he jumped into it.

"Ballade! Ugh… that scumbag…" the green robot, Quint, growled. He looked down at his jackhammer device. The device, which had eyes, looked back. Since the jackhammer device was sentient, it spoke to Quint with a series of chattering noises.

"Oh, indeed, Sakugarne. We follow him," said Quint. He created a portal of his own and, atop the jackhammer device called Sakugarne, he hopped in.

---------------

(Hydro's POV)

It has been two years since the events of our first adventure. It was a chilly day in late September. I was looking at the computers in our Underground Clubhouse. What is the Underground Clubhouse, you ask? It is a special place where we now operate from, the home base of Team Hydro. It's like a superhero's hideout in a way. Just like Batman and Robin have the Bat Cave, we have the Underground Clubhouse. Dr. Light had Guts Man and other robots make the Clubhouse for us.

I was checking the computers for any signs of major trouble, but there was none so far. There hadn't been in the last two years. The occasional bank robber or shoplifter, but it wasn't anything major. As I checked for possible work, the others were goofing off. Trance was playing music that Tempo and Melody were dancing to, Draco was talking to StarLight, and Bolt, Antonio, Crystal and Usagi were playing Uno.

"Skip you," said Antonio, laying down a blue card with the symbol of a circle with a line through it. Crystal looked frustrated at the prospect of having her turn skipped.

"Wildcard, draw four, color is red!" Usagi declared.

"Oh, Usagi, stop making me draw cards!" Bolt shouted. Usagi pointed his finger.

"Owned," he said, laughing. Bolt frowned, then he placed his hand on Usagi's neck and discharged a HUGE amount of electricity. Usagi yelled very loudly as he was shocked.

"Now Bolt, be a good sport," said Antonio. I went back to the computer screen. As I scanned the map of the city and found nothing, I brought up a map of Rose Forest and began scanning it. A robot's presence was detected there, but it wasn't anyone dangerous, it was just StarLight's mother RoseFox on her daily rounds. Seeing that Rose Forest was all clear too, I brought up Star Town, where Bass and Hunter lived. No alarms, and all robots detected were friendly. All clear. I looked up the ruins of Castle Wily. Nothing there but junk. I keyed in Treasure Arbors. There were some robots detected. Hunter was there, good. Bass was also wandering about there. But a third robot caught my eye. The computer locked a cursor onto the third one. A message appeared saying "UNKNOWN ROBOT".

"Guys, listen up. I think we have something here," I said. Crystal, who had just beaten the boys in Uno, shouted triumphantly before she looked in my direction along with the others. I pointed at an image on the computer screen.

"Computer found an unidentified robot right here in Treasure Arbors. I say we investigate," I said. Smiling, everyone nodded. We put on our armor and headed out the door.

----------------

When we reached the coordinates indicated by the computer, we found a robot in green armor. He looked sort of like Father, but his armor was different in design. An upside down triangle was on the armor's chest in dark green. He had orange bands on his gloves and an orange stripe going down the center of his helmet. A golden, V-shaped piece was attached to the forehead area, sort of like Quick Man's but not quite, it was smaller. He also had shades concealing his eyes, shades similar to Proto Man's. He was standing next to a type of machine that looked like a pogo stick and jackhammer combined. I walked up to him.

"Excuse me, sir, who are you?" I asked. He looked at me. He smiled.

"I'm Quint. I… came here to see the forest. I see this cave leads to a lake, according to a sign, but it's off-limits. I wonder why," he said. As I walked closer to him, two eyes opened on his digging machine, and it starting to make chattering noises at me! The whole group jumped.

"DUDE! That thing is ALIVE?" Usagi shouted. Quint laughed.

"Yes, ha ha! I see you met Sakugarne. He just told you to back off," Quint said through laughter. Sakugarne continued to chatter. Quint was listening to him.

"Now he says that he needs space, because he's already frustrated to have someone riding on him all the time," said Quint. Trance stared at the digging machine.

"How do you know if that… jack stick… pogo hammer… what DO you call it? How do you know if that THING is a boy or a girl?" Trance asked.

"Oh, Sakugarne is a boy all right. He's said things I would never imagine a girl saying," Quint said. Sakugarne blinked but did not chatter this time.

"What has he said?" asked Draco.

"It's best you don't know," he said, laughing. Then he looked at us.

"Got a place I can stay? I'm sort of lost," he said. I smiled.

"Sure. The lab is this way. Follow us."

---------------------

When we got home, Mother was standing at a karaoke machine singing along with a song.

"…_reaching for something in the distance  
So close you can almost taste it  
Release your inhibitions  
Feel the rain on your skin  
No one else can feel it for you  
Only you can let it in  
No one else, no one else  
Can speak the words on your lips  
Drench yourself in words unspoken  
Live your life with arms wide open  
Today is where your book begins  
The rest is still unwritten…_"

As she was singing, Father, who was watching, got up to greet us.

"Hello, Hydro… oh? Who's this?"

------------------

END CHAPTER. Stay tuned, please REVIEW! I live on reviews. Fox, your turn.


	2. Battle Between Ballade

**Chapter 2**

**Battle between Ballade**

"This is the robot that our computer picked up. His name is Quint." I said to him.

"Well then," he said as he walked up to him, "what brings you here."

"Well I was taking a walk when I got lost, that is when this girl and her friends found me."

"Well then let me show you around then."

As my Father left with Quint, I went back to the club house.

When I got there I noticed that everyone one was waiting for me.

"Well?" said StarLight.

"Well what?"

"What do you think of Quint. Personally I don't trust him."

"Well, I don't know what to think of him. For now let's show him around the town."

…………………………………..

Tempo and Bolt came with me to show Quint around the town. StarLight didn't trust him so she went into Rose Forest to train.

"So this is your town, it's peaceful."

"It wasn't that peaceful a couple of years."

"Really? What happened?"

"Well…"

I start at the beginning and talked about Marco.

"And that's really it."

"I final found you Quint!"

I looked up, to see a purple robot on a building above us. He kind of looked like Quick man. His hands where out along with his arm cannons.

"Ballade, so you finally found me."

"I will finally stop you! Ballade Cracker!"

A bunch of pellets shot at Quint. Quint dodged the attack with ease. Each pellet when it hit the ground exploded.

"Hay! Don't you dare fight in this town!" I yelled at him.

"Ballade Cracker!"

He kept on firing at Quint.

"Bolt, Tempo we have to stop him before he destroys this town."

"Bolt Zapper!"

The bolt hit him directly. It defiantly did some damage.

"So Quint I see that you have gotten some help."

"Hydro Cannon!"

More and more of our shots hit him. Eventually the robot became heavily damaged.

"Dam. Looks like I have to run for now." He then teleported somewhere.

"What was that about?"

"That robots name is Ballade. He's an evil robot. I've been trying to stop him."

"But from what?"

"Let's go back to the lab now shall we?"

With that he headed back to the lab. He left so many questions opened. For example why didn't he tell us why he was trying to stop Ballade.

**End of Chapter 2**


	3. Getting To Know Quint

**Chapter 3: Getting To Know Quint**

We were in the Underground Clubhouse, sitting around in chairs, trying to get some answers out of Quint. Quint had opened up a box of raisins he found and was chewing the dried fruits thoughtfully.

"So… Quint… why are you going after Ballade?" asked Trance. Quint, who had a mouthful of fruit, said nothing until he swallowed the raisins.

"Uh… because he's a bad robot that's why," he said, before jamming more raisins into his mouth. Trance went cross-eyed, laid his antennae back flat against his head, and wrinkled up his nose. He always does that when he gets frustrated. It's pretty funny to look at, and while I managed to stifle a laugh at his expression, Bolt, who was drinking a Coke, laughed while he was drinking and snorted pop out of his nose, and that got the laugh out of me. Quint chuckled a little.

"I honestly don't think you're ready to find out Ballade's motives. They're pretty extreme," said Quint. Bolt, wiping pop off of his face, looked at Quint.

"How extreme are Ballade's motives?" he asked. Quint tossed the empty raisin box in a trash can and grabbed another. He must have really liked raisins.

"I said I'm not telling, because I don't think you kids are ready yet. Isn't that right Sakugarne?" he asked. The digging machine, which was propped up against the wall, started squealing in apparent agreement with Quint's words.

"If that thing can't say anything intelligible, then how can you understand it?" asked Draco. Quint was distracted, looking at the raisins in the box.

"Oh gross, yogurt raisins…" he mumbled, before looking up.

"Huh? How do I understand Sakugarne? Well, if you listen to his squabbling close enough, you can make out words," Quint said, before he threw the raisins away. I suppose yogurt raisins didn't appeal to him. Quint clapped to get Sakugarne's attention.

"Sakugarne, say something," said Quint. A series of chirps followed. I strained my ears to listen, but heard nothing but squeals. Trance seemed to understand, though.

"You guys didn't get it?" Trance said in confusion when we didn't understand. Quint shrugged.

"I guess your sensors must be tuned to a certain frequency. I can just understand him," Quint said. Suddenly, the computer was getting readings of an unfamiliar robot nearby. When a security camera image showed up, I recognized the robot. The Quick Man-like helmet, purple armor, shoulder cannons AND arm cannons… Ballade.

"Why the heck is Ballade here?" asked Bolt. Ballade was just standing there, looking around. He looked straight at the camera and noticed it. Ballade turned and ran towards Rose Forest.

"Why is he going to Rose Forest?" asked Tempo. Quint shrugged as he took out a small circuit card and started tinkering with it.

"What's that?" asked Antonio. Quint held up the circuit card.

"This? Oh, it's a little upgrade I've been making for myself. I'm not sharing what it does though," said Quint nonchalantly before storing it in a small compartment on his arm guard.

"What is Ballade going to do in Rose Forest?" I wondered aloud. I started monitoring Rose Forest on the computer since StarLight was there. I was going to track Ballade and see if he would make any trouble. If he was causing trouble we would teleport to the forest and stop him.

----------------

(3rd person POV)

StarLight had finished training and was walking home. She sat down to think things over.

_I really don't like this Quint guy. I think he has something to hide. Why the heck is he here anyway? Who is he? Why does he seem dangerous though he doesn't look dangerous?_, she thought. Her train of thought was broken when she heard the sound of fallen leaves crunching and twigs snapping. She looked up. A purple robot came speeding past. She shouted to him.

"Hey mister! Where are you going?" she shouted. But he didn't seem to hear and continued running in a northerly direction.

"Why is he heading north to Lookout Cascades?" she wondered. Lookout Cascades was a rocky, mountainous area full of waterfalls.

------------------

(Still 3rd person…)

Ballade climbed to the top of a hill with a waterfall pouring down like a stream of falling crystals. Near the water's edge, he scanned the dirt. A special sensor went off. Smiling, Ballade clawed through the dirt until he unearthed a small blue gem. Then, he took out a small device and started pushing buttons. Then, he began speaking into it.

"Enker, can you read me?" he said into the device. The silhouette of a robot's head, bearing a helmet with a spike on each side and one resting on top, appeared.

"Reception is fuzzy, but I hear," replied a voice. It sounded staticy.

"I know it's hard talking across time periods, but I must inform you that I found the first Time Crystal," said Ballade. The robot called Enker sounded pleased.

"Good work buddy. That's one down… four to go. Where could that scoundrel hidden the other four?" said Enker. Ballade shook his head.

"I know what time periods the others are in. But, I'm not leaving this time period yet. There's… someone I'm looking for," said Ballade.

"Roger," replied Enker.

"Okay. This is Ballade, over and out."

-------------------------------

End chapter.


	4. Attack Of The Rose Tree

**Chapter 4**

**Attack of the Rose Tree**

(Third person for now)

The group was asleep when Quint woke up.

"Now would be a good time to hunt Ballade down, from what that girl, what was her name? Oh yea it was StarLight, Ballade was last seen in Rose Forest . I'll start there."

Sakugarne squealed a bit.

"No I won't need you; I'll use the upgrade that I brought with me."

…………………………………………..

A few hours later Quint was near the center of Rose Forest .

"I should have seen Ballade by now, hum? My sensor is going off, he must be close by."

He kept going in the direction of his sensor when he got to a clearing. In the center of the clearing was the Rose Tree. A huge tree that was made completely out of rose bushes.

"That's odd, it's only a tree, but my sensors are going wild." As he got closer a thorn vine whipped out and stuck Quint across his chest, sending him flying.

"What the hell? Whoa!" He said as he jumped into the air as another thorn vine came at him.

"Is that tree attacking me?" Another vine came at him when he was in the air, so he shot it. The vine withered back.

"Ha is that all you got! What the…?" he heard a rumble from below him he looked down to see, the vines had burst threw the ground. He jumped as they attempted to hold him down.

_As long as I stay at out of its reach I should be fine._ He thought to himself as he started to fire at the Rose Tree. The Rose Tree easily blocked the shots and fired its thorns at Quint, like bullets. Most of the thorns went through his cannon arm, destroying it.

"Dam it all!" Again the ground rumbled. This time the vines grabbed his legs and held him down.

"Can't move."

Move vines grabbed on to each of his limbs and started to pull. Soon all but one of his arms were ripped off of his body.

"ARGH!" The Tree then picked him up and threw him into the forest. Quint then shut himself down.

…………………………………………………….

Mean while in Treasure Arbor Tempo and Melody were helping their parents with patrol.

"It gets kind of boring after a while doesn't it Tempo?"

"Yeah it does."

As they walked Ballade ran out in front of them. They quickly started to fire at him.

"Wait! I mean no harm! I just want to talk!"

"That what they all say!" Said Tempo as she continued to fire at Ballade. Eventually Ballade ran deeper into the forest.

"I'm confused, why didn't he fire back at us?"

"I don't know. We should get back and tell the others about this."

………………………………………..

It was morning when RoseFox started her patrol.

"It was kind of noisy last night I wonder why? Oh my god!" she yelled as she say Quint lying in the middle of the forest.

"Wow I have to get him back to the lab now!"

………………………………….

(Back to Hydro's point of view)

"Hay it looks like he's finally waking up."

Quint was waking up; he still didn't have his legs or his arm. The only arm that was still attached was full of holes and thorns.

"Where am I?"

"Mama found you and brought you back to the lab." Said StarLight.

"Dam that tree…"

"Tree? What tree?"

"That tree in the center of the woods, the one that looked liked a giant rose bushes, it attacked me. It ripped me apart. I think someone called it the Rose Tree."

"The Rose Tree?" said Tempo.

"It's the most precious secret of the Rose Forest , like your Crystal cave, only a few people know of its location. So far only me, mom, daddy, Hydro, and Draco know of it."

"But it's just a tree, right?" said Trance.

"Well…no."

"What do you mean no?"

"The Rose Tree is made of rose bushes. Normal a rose bush just grows into a bush but in this case it became a tree. This is because of a meteorite hit the center of our woods. A nearby rose seed soon grew and surrounded this meteorite. This meteorite mutated this seed."

"What kind of mutation?"

"This seed became intelligent…"

"It's intelligent!" yelled out everyone."

"Yes it is, quite smart too, anyway, it will judge anyone that comes into the forest and if it deems the person not trust worthy, it will usually create an illusion that will cause the person to turn around and leave the forest. Of chores this only works on humans. If the person is a robot and it finds the Rose Tree, it will attack and try to ether scare the person away, or if it attacks it, it will try to kill it."

"It tried to kill Quint?"

"It didn't trust him so it tried to scare him away, but you started to attack it, so it defended itself the best way it knew, you caused your own pain. I'm going to see if the Rose Tree is ok." She then ran out of the lab.

"Hay StarLight wait for me!" yelled out Draco who soon followed her.

**End of Chapter 4**


	5. Quint Explains Some Things

**Chapter 5: Quint Explains Some Things**

It was evening. Quint had been repaired and he was drinking some juice. I had been thinking about this Ballade guy and what he could possibly be up to. It bothered me so much I just had to ask Quint for information. I tapped his shoulder.

"Quint, what is with this Ballade guy? Just what is he after?" I asked. The others looked at Quint hoping he would provide an answer. StarLight and Draco wouldn't be here to find out anything, since they had gone to check out the Rose Tree and hadn't returned yet, but we could tell them later. Quint shook his head.

"Look, kids, I still don't think you're ready to…" he started, until StarLight and Draco walked in.

"The Rose Tree isn't in serious condition, but we do have something to report," said StarLight. We all looked in their direction.

"We saw Ballade. And he had a blue gem in hand," said Draco. The words "Time Crystal" escaped from Quint's lips, and we turned to look at him.

"What are Time Crystals?" asked Trance. Quint bit his lip and swore under his breath.

"Guess I might as well explain things…"

------------------------

"NO WAY! The future?" Tempo shouted.

"Yes, Ballade is from the future," said Quint. We were astonished by his story. So Ballade came from the future? I never would have guessed.

"Ballade is collecting five crystal shards called the Time Crystals. They keep Earth's time-space continuum in line. If he collects all five, he could destroy the world," said Quint. Usagi's eyes grew huge.

"DESTROY THE WORLD???" he shouted.

"We're doomed…" Crystal groaned, hiding her face with her wings.

"But Quint, I don't understand. How do you know that Ballade's from the future?" asked Bolt. Quint laughed a little.

"Because I'm from the future too. I'm hunting down Ballade so I can stop his madness," Quint explained. We all were amazed, however StarLight was looking dark.

"Star, what's wrong?" I asked. StarLight snorted.

"I think Quint is lying," she whispered in my ear. I was confused.

"StarLight, you got to learn to trust Quint. He's here to stop that crazy Ballade," I said. StarLight made a sardonic chuckle.

"Ha. Well, first, something just doesn't seem right about Quint. And the Rose Tree didn't like him, which could mean something. And while Draco and I saw Ballade, he looked in our direction but didn't attack. He just walked away from us. Ballade… did _not _seemed malicious to me," she explained. This was quite a point she had, but I still disbelieved it. Quint was so sincere when he told his story, and they say that looks can be deceiving, so Ballade could be acting nonviolent but still be evil. We looked at Quint when he started speaking.

"So here's the game plan. Kids, we start Operation: Ballade Capture at dawn tomorrow. Alright?" he said. All but StarLight and Draco agreed to help Quint. StarLight and Draco just left the room.

------------------

_Good lord. StarLight, you've made me suspicious, _I thought. I was awake for a good portion of the night thinking things over. Who was right, StarLight or Quint? It was 11:30 when I finally fell into Sleep Mode.

------------------

(3rd person POV)

It was late into the night. Ballade was at Light Laboratories, standing on the roof and looking down at the entrance to the Underground Clubhouse. He took out his time-traversing communication device.

"Enker, this is Ballade. Do you read me, over?" he spoke into the device. The screen displayed the silhouette of the robot head with the three-spiked helmet.

"Roger, Ballade. I hear you, over," Enker replied. Ballade stared at the Time Crystal in his hand, then at the Underground Clubhouse entrance.

"The one I'm looking for? I found her. Trouble is, Quint is at the base with her. I'd have to find a way past _him _so I can get to _her_, over," said Ballade.

"Roger that. C'mon, Ballade, why must it take you so long? You have the first Crystal, so grab the girl and go, over!" said Enker, his voice riddled with impatience.

"Enker, I have to get past Quint…" Ballade started, when suddenly, he heard shouting.

"What in the world? HEY! THERE'S SOMEONE ON THE ROOF!" someone shouted. Ballade jumped.

"Oh crud… Enker, I've been spotted by unknown party. Must flee! Over and out!" Ballade shouted. He looked up into the sky before teleporting away.

-----------------------

(Hydro's POV)

"Father, you say someone was on the roof last night?" I asked during breakfast. Father nodded.

"He was in purple armor, with these strange arm cannons and shoulder cannons, he had this yellow helmet piece like Quick Man's sort of…" Father said. Quint spewed milk out of his mouth.

"BALLADE!" he shouted. Elec Man, wiping milk off of his face, was indignant.

"Geez Quint, don't spit in my face! And who's Ballade?" he asked.

"Ballade is that evil robot I'm tracking! C'mon kids, let's catch him!" Quint said leaping up from the table. Bolt swallowed a mouthful of eggs and spoke.

"And leave breakfast behind?" he asked. Quint grabbed Sakugarne.

"Food can wait! Ballade is the important issue!" he said before charging out the door. We abandoned breakfast and followed him.

----------------------------

Quint had gotten a reading of Ballade's location, and we followed him as he rode Sakugarne to the ruins of Castle Wily. Ballade was there, speaking into a device. He looked up and jumped. He hung up on whoever he was speaking to and stowed the device away. He pointed both arms at Quint. The arm blasters and shoulder cannons both began to glow.

"Super Ballade Cracker!" he shouted. All four cannons fired, sending explosive pellets at Quint. Quint dodged the attack. He shot into the air and came down with a large crash, causing Sakugarne to strike loose stones in the dirt and fling them at Ballade. Ballade teleported just enough to get in the air behind Quint and roundhouse kick him in the back of the head. Quint fell over, stunned.

"Kids, don't listen to his lies!" Ballade said, pointing at Quint.

"You're the liar, Ballade!" Antonio said, drawing his sword. Ballade shook his head. Quint started recovering, and Ballade teleported away. As Quint cursed at the fact that Ballade escaped, I felt confused. Were we really doing the right thing by helping Quint? I shrugged it off.

_I bet Ballade is trying to fool us. We'll just keep going after him. _

-------------------

END CHAPTER.


	6. Waiting On Ballade

**Chapter 6**

**Waiting on Ballade**

Everyone was in the club house waiting to see when Ballade would show up again.

"I'm going to train some more." Said StarLight.

"What?" I said to her.

StarLight had been training far more then usual cense the talk with Quint. After she left I started to talk to Draco to see if he knew anything.

"No, I don't know what she is doing."

"But doesn't she tell you everything?"

"Well most of the time yes, but recently she hasn't been talking to me."

"Have you talked to LockHeart or RoseFox?"

"Yes I did but they said they weren't giving her any training. So I started to follow her."

"And what did you find out?"

"From what I saw she goes strait to the Rose Tree and when ever I get close to the clearing, it blocks my view with its vines and doesn't allow me to pass. I even tried to fly over them but a bunch of thorns came firing my way. What ever she's doing she doesn't want anyone to know about it."

"Hum this is interesting, I think we should tell the others…"

"ALERT! ALERT! BALLADE SPOTTED IN ROSE FOREST ! LOCATION CENTER !"

"Isn't that the place of the Rose Tree?"

"Yeah it is… but it doesn't seem to be doing anything to him, and look StarLight is there too, and she isn't doing anything at all."

"We have to tell the others about this now!"

……………………………………………………..

(Third person)

StarLight was in her second Rage Form and was trying to go to another level. Her anti-rage mode collar was at the base of the Rose Tree.

"ARGH! I… MUST…CHANGE!"

A green aura soon started to surround her. From her body vines and roses came forth and covered her. Her hands became paws, her eyes glowed a pale blue. They started to mold her body to look a lot like a large fox with twin tails, made from roses and thorn vines. Her fangs were huge thorns. Her shoulder cannons became larger and more plant like than machine. The form was quickly created. In a near by puddle StarLight looked at her new form.

"I finally got the hang of the Nature's Rage form. Thank you Rose Tree for helping me keep this a secret from the others. I would shake your vines, but I don't have hands in this form."

The tree simply bloomed red roses before changing them to black.

"Someone is here… but you must at least trust them a little seeing as you're not doing anything to him…"

"Let go of me!"

"Oh you are…"

StarLight quickly reverted back to her normal form and went to the other side of the Rose Tree. On the other side was Ballade being held down by the Rose Tree's vines. He was about to fire when StarLight spoke.

"I wouldn't do that if I where you. It might attack back."

Ballade looked up, to see more and more of the tree's vines coming only inches away from him. StarLight was already putting her collar back on; a red rose was now in her hair.

"You're with those kids that are helping Quint. So why aren't you attacking me like the rest of them?"

"I don't trust Quint, not one bit. You on the other hand I might. The Rose Tree would have tried to scare you of by now but it only held you down. Meaning it wanted me to see you before it did anything. You may let him go now Rose Tree."

The vines that held down Ballade went away.

"I guess I should thank you." Said Ballade.

"There is no need; only thing I want is your side of the story. I already now that you are from the future and so is Quint. I want to know why you are here."

Ballade thought for a minute.

"I can do that."

…………………………………..

(Back to Hydro's point of view)

It was around sunset when I saw StarLight walking to the club house. As soon as she stepped in everyone surrounded her.

"Hay guys, what's up?"

"You have a lot of explaining to do StarLight." Said Bolt.

"What is to explain? I went to train."

"Yeah but from what we know, you have been training by yourself and no one knows why, and only a few minutes ago you were with Ballade and you let him walk away."

"My training is my secret. The Rose Tree helps me with that, so when I'm ready to show you I will. About Ballade, he really isn't such a bad guy. I see no threat in him and neither did the Rose Tree. So my question is, what have you guys been up to?"

"We are planning an ambush for Ballade." Said Tempo.

"That way we can finally capture him. You can help us by…" Said Melody.

StarLight's face grew stern. "I'm not helping you capture Ballade."

We were all shocked.

"But why?"

"I don't trust Quint as far as I can throw him, wait, I could throw him pretty far. If you need me, I'll be at the Rose Tree, Draco I give you permission to show them the way."

With that she left.

**End of Chapter 6**


	7. The Ambushing Of Ballade

**Chapter 7: The Ambushing Of Ballade**

We were in Treasure Arbors, with a trap ready. We were going to catch Ballade by ambushing him. We were expecting him to come near the Crystal Lake entrance, and we were waiting for him, hiding in the trees. We waited for several minutes, and then, we saw Ballade walking through the area. Quint smiled. As Ballade came right near us, Quint gave us the signal to strike. Usagi jumped out of one tree and whacked Ballade in the back of the head with a powerful Usagi Slash. Ballade, who had indeed been caught off guard, went down like a ton of bricks. Quint and Bolt started attacking Ballade fiercely. As we all ganged up on Ballade, we attacked until he grew so weak he couldn't move. Quint tied Ballade up and gagged him. Seeing as the ambush was successful, Quint smiled.

"Well, you did a good job, kids. Look's like I'll be returning to the future now," said Quint. We nodded. He caught Ballade, his job here is done, now he must leave. He opened a portal and picked up Ballade. Ballade was regaining strength slowly, and was starting to wriggle in his bonds but was too weak to break free.

"Mmmf! Mmmf!" Ballade shouted. Since he was gagged, we couldn't understand him. Quint threw Ballade into the portal.

"Before I go, I'd like to have a word with you kids…" said Quint. He approached us, then suddenly, he used a type of energy manipulation to grab us all!

"What the…?"

"Antonio, help, I can't move!"

"Me neither, Crystal, I'm sorry!"

"You kids, are coming with me!" Quint shouted. He started dragging us into the portal. StarLight and Draco came running.

"Oh no you don't!" StarLight shouted. I saw her leap into the portal after us just before it closed and all went dark.

---------------

(3rd person…)

Draco stared at where the portal once was. StarLight's suspicions were right, Quint turned out to be bad after all! Draco was staring with disbelief when he heard a squeal.

"Sakugarne!" he said when he saw the small machine behind him. Sakugarne was chirping and squeaking.

"Huh? What was that? Quint abandoned you? Said he didn't need you anymore?"

-------------------------

(Back to Hydro's POV)

I awoke to darkness. The whole scene was pitch black. It was cold where I was. I saw nothing but a darkness that was so thick, I could almost feel it.

"Anyone else here?" I said, not only to call for allies but to make sure I still existed. Two blue lights appeared, breaking the darkness a little.

"Trance? Is that you?" I asked. Trance played a small techno riff that was his signal.

"Yes, it's me. Geez, it's dark. I need my visor on to see," Trance said. His visor allows him to see in infrared, so he can detect objects in the dark as long as they give off heat. His eyes glow blue through his visor while he has it down.

"I see you, Bolt, Usagi, Tempo, Melody, Antonio, Crystal, and StarLight. It looks like Ballade is here too," said Trance. I could see outlines of everyone as my optics were adjusting to the pitch black area. Ballade and everyone else were waking up. Ballade had regained enough strength to break off the ropes binding him and remove his gag.

"Oh, you kids… Welcome to the future…" he said. We all looked at him, or rather, towards the source of the voice. StarLight spoke up.

"Ballade told me everything. This future world is dark and devoid of humans. Time is at a standstill here, and the world is distorted and dark. Because someone removed the Time Crystals from the Temple of Time. And that someone is Quint," said StarLight. We all gasped.

"Yes, Quint had truly been lying to you all this time about everything. Quint played you all for fools," said Ballade. Bolt started looking around.

"Where are we?" asked Bolt.

"We're in Star Town. However, you can see it has been ravaged. Due to spatial distortions and lack of humans to care for the place, the whole city has fallen into disrepair. And I feel that Quint might be nearby. We better run," said Ballade. He took off running and we followed him.

-----------------

(3rd person POV, back in the past)

"OH NO! MY BABY!" Splash Woman wailed. She buried her face in Mega Man's chest. Draco had told the adults the bad news, and the whole lab fell into despair and panic.

"What will happen to my son!?" Elec Man shouted.

"Tempo… Melody… NO! I can't lose you!" Bass shouted, clearly in pain.

"Is there anything we can do?!" Shouted a panicked Oil Man. Oil Man had been a good friend of the kids' and was panicked to hear of what happened.

"Nothing I can do. I still can't travel any more than an hour into the future," said Time Man, shaking his head. Dr. Light and The Brothers Metallico were trying to calm all the robots down.

"They can make it back!" Marco said, trying to explain how he saw the potential in Hydro to make it back. But the robots could only wonder if the kids could come back safely.

------------------

END CHAPTER


	8. Demonic Quint

**Chapter 8**

**Demonic ****Quint**

We were following Ballade now. He had given us all special goggles so we could see. Trance didn't really need it because he could see in infrared.

"So where are we going Ballade?" I asked.

"For the fifth time we are going to meet with an old friend of mine. His name is Enker."

"How long is it going to talk, my feet are killing me. " Wined Melody.

"Well if you would train like I do this is no more then a small hike to me. " Said StarLight.

"Well we don't just train every day like you do, we like to relax."

"True but at least I stay in shape."

"Just another hour and we will be there." Said Ballade.

"What?!" I heard most of us cry out. StarLight just chuckled to herself.

"But you're not going to get there alive!"

We turned to see Quint behind us. He was without Sakugarne.

"Hay where is Sakugarne?"

"I don't need that useless thing anymore, now that I have this." He said as he reside his arm.

I watched as his armor started to crack and break apart. He started to let out a blood curdling scream. Demonic wings started to break through his armor and skin. His hands started to grow claws and his feet grew talons. From underneath his visor his eyes became cross like. Soon it was done. Most of his old armor had been replaced with a new one (witch kind of looked like the old one, but it was much larger).

"You shall all die here!" He said in a voice that seemed to his, a demons, and some sort robot, all mixed to gather.

" Um… StarLight, would you be kind enough to use your Rage Mode?"

"I can't use it right now."

"What?!"

"That time jump messed with my circuits a little so I won't be able to do anything other then use my blades for at least another hour or so."

"Crap…"

"Fire!" Said Quint.

"Run for your lives!" I heard Bolt yell out.

"You shall not escape me. " And with that said Quint started to fly above our heads as we ran. Each time his shot hit something it exploded.

"Hydro if we don't do something we are going to die."

"I know! Ballade you know a place where we can ditch him?"

"No, I have an idea."

Ballade started to fire his cannon in a circle around us. Soon the ground gave away and we fell into even more darkness.

"Come on. Get in this pipe. Hopefully he will not notice us, and just fly past us."

We quickly went in and became quiet. Soon Quint flew down the hole Ballade had made.

"Come out; come out where ever you are. Don't make me find you, because if I do, I'll kill you all slowly and painfully." As he said that he flew right past our hiding spot. We waited another 10 minutes before coming out.

"Well that was close." Said Bolt.

"I'll say." Said Tempo.

Ballade started to walk again.

"It's defiantly going to take longer then before but we should be there in about 3 hours."

"Great…." I heard Bolt mumble to himself.

**End of Chapter 8**


	9. Enker

**Chapter 9: Enker**

About three hours later, we reached a small area of the Monsteropolis Ruins. A robot that looked about my age was standing there. He wore blue and gold armor with a red gem on his chestplate and a helmet with a spike on each side and one on top. He was holding a yellow javelin.

"Enker, there you are!" said Ballade. The robot… Enker… turned around and jumped in shock.

"Back so soon, Ballade? And who are those guys?" said Enker. Ballade looked around.

"These are kids that Quint dragged into the future with me after catching me. Luckily I didn't lose my Time Crystal, and these kids could put the five crystals back in the Temple of Time once I find all of them," said Ballade. Enker nodded. Melody looked shocked.

"Us? Why are we necessary to put the gems back? Can't you or Enker put them back yourselves, Ballade?" Melody asked. Ballade sighed.

"No. It won't work unless someone with a pure heart puts them in. Enker and I have become impure from living in this distorted darkness for too long," said Ballade. Enker looked around nervously.

"I think you guys better go before Quint finds you. Go to another time…" said Enker. I was confused, but Ballade explained this.

"Quint hid the Time Crystals in different spots in this immediate area, but in different time periods. I found one, and I know where and when the others are hidden," said Ballade. Usagi looked at the purple robot.

"But Ballade, why did Quint spoil everything? Did he have any particular reason for causing this destruction?" asked Usagi. Ballade looked sad.

"Yes, and his reasons are sad indeed. You see, Quint and I were just ordinary robots once, born in a happy world with a sun shining. But, when we were little, we both lost our parents and were wandering homeless for a while. I was taken in by a kind young woman who treated me like her own child. Quint however, was taken by a cruel old man who forced Quint to do things for him. Quint was a slave to the man. Quint, assuming all humans were black-souled things, grew up hating humans. Eventually, he opened a portal to the Temple of Time, a special place where Earth's time-space continuum is kept in check. He stole the Time Crystals from it, and time stopped, and Earth became dark and distorted. All humans were trapped in suspended animation and sealed in another dimension. Shocked by his actions, I started training, and preparing myself to put time and space back in order, so I could rescue the humans… good humans, like my surrogate mother…" said Ballade. I tried to digest his words, but found it so hard to believe. That story was unbelievably sad. I scraped my foot in the dust.

"Well, Ballade, that gives us reason to help you!" I said. We all agreed. Ballade nodded.

"Let's go, before Quint finds us," he said. He made a portal, and we followed him into it.

-------------------

(3rd person)

Enker stood at his post, rubbing his javelin, which was called the Barrierd Spear.

"I wish you luck, Ballade," he said under his breath. Suddenly, Quint, in Demon Form, flew to him and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.

"Have you seen Ballade and those kids? HAVE YOU?" Quint screamed, his eyes glowing eerie white through his visor. Enker shook his head.

"No, sir, I haven't seen Ballade. And kids? What kids?" said Enker. Quint dropped Enker, then spread his wings and flew away.

------------------------

(Hydro's POV, sometime in the past)

We landed in the middle of a pool. I was soaked, and my legs had become a fish tail. Ballade was floating in the water near me, and the others were on the shore. As Ballade came to, he climbed out of the water, and I followed him out.

"Welcome to Lookout Cascades… in the year 1985," said Ballade. I was astonished.

"1995? That's… several years before the invention of the Robot Masters…" I said. Trance was confused.

"Then how are we even existing here if our parents weren't even around yet?" he asked.

"I honestly don't know. But what I DO know, is that there's a crystal in this time period. It's somewhere in Rose Forest, according to my sensors. Near where the Rose Tree is in your present day," said Ballade. StarLight nodded.

"I can lead you guys there."

----------------------

We reached the location a few minutes later. A sensor on Ballade started bleeping like crazy, and he started digging in the dirt. He unearthed a red crystal.

"This is the second one!" he said happily. There was a silver box on his back that was apparently a storage compartment. He stashed the red Time Crystal in it.

"There, we found the second crystal. Let's go," said Ballade. He opened a new portal and we followed him in.

--------------------------

END CHAPTER.


	10. Third Crystal Found!

**Chapter 10**

**Third Crystal Found!**

I woke up to see a girl about 10 years old looking at me.

"Um… where am I?"

"You're at my house. When I came home I found you and a bunch of others like you unconscious in my back yard. I brought you all in and you are the last one to wake up. Now my question is…how did you get in my backyard?"

"I'll tell you in a bit. What is today's date?"

"It's 1950, you're in Mosteropolis. So are you going to tell me how you guys got in my back yard?"

"I came through…" I shut my mouth. In this time period, there were no robots walking around, and telling her about time travel will just cause her to think we are crazy.

"Came through?"

"The door. We were really tired and we noticed that the door to the back yard was open and we were going to ask if we could rest here, but we kind of just fell asleep. By the way, my name is Hydro, what is yours?"

"My name is Sandy . Hum… Hydro, what a strange name. Anyway your friends are waiting for you, if you would follow me."

Everyone but StarLight was in the backyard. Ballade was trying to see where the time crystal was and everyone else seemed to be trying to find StarLight.

"Hay looks who's up." Yelled out Trance.

"I see everyone is fine… where's StarLight?"

"StarLight?" asked Sandy .

"The girl that likes to dress up like a fox."

"Oh her, I think see went to play with my dog. He's in the front yard."

"Ok thanks."

Sandy stayed with the others so I was the one to go into the back yard. When I got there I didn't see StarLight but I did see two dogs. The first one looked to be a Husky while the other one was quite strange. While it did look like a very large fox, easily bigger then the Husky. It looked to be made completely out of roses and vines, even its fangs and claws were made from giant thorns. The roses (witch where mostly on its back) were blue and silver. Both of the dogs where playing tug-a-war with some rope.

"Hay StarLight, where are you?"

The fox looked at me, before letting go of the rope and walking over to me.

"StarLight?"

It sat down and wagged its two tails.

_Two tails? What is going on here?_

While I was thinking about this it pounced on me, knocking me to the ground.

"Ow! That hurt! Get off of me StarLight!"

"Aw… when did you notice?"

"First thing is that foxes are not bigger then Huskies, two I've never seen a dog that looked like a plant, and three, when did foxes gain the ability to talk? So what did you do to yourself?"

"It's my third rage form. I was going to show you guys, but then we got dragged into the future, and then there was Quint…"

"What if you're in your Rage Mode, then why aren't you going insane?"

"That's easy. I'm not here to fight anyone, I'm here to play."

"Play?"

"Yeah and I was having fun too. I'll change back now."

In a matter of 10 seconds all the vines and roses became a single blue rose. StarLight was getting up off all fours, and checking herself to see that everything was in check. I noticed that the rose was in her hair.

"So do you need that rose to go into that mode?"

"No but I find it easier to."

We both went back to the others, who where now looking for the crystal.

"So did you find it yet?"

"No, but it's close."

"What are you looking for?" asked Sandy who came out of her house.

"A crystal. From what we know, it's somewhere around here."

"A crystal…oh you mean like this?" she said as she held out her hands, revealing a purple gem.

"Yeah that's it."

"Well I don't really need it, so I'll give it to you guys."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

We left out the back yard and made sure that no one could see us. When it was clear Ballade created another portal and we where off to find the next time crystal.

………………………………………………………………

(Third Person)

Mean while in the present.

"I wonder how StarLight and the others are doing. I hope they are alright."

A few squeaks and squeals, brought him back to reality.

"Oh sorry Sakugarne."

Draco looked at the machine. _I think he must be depressed about being thrown away._

"Sakugarne, why don't you stay with me for the time being?"

The machine gave a few more squeals before Draco picked him up.

"Well, first things first, lets get make sure your alright."

**End of Chapter 10**


	11. Not Everything Is Easy

**Chapter 11: Not Everything Is Easy**

We were in the time portal, heading towards our next destination. First 1995, then 1950, and now we were heading even farther backwards in time. I thought that maybe obtaining the last two crystals would be as easy as the first three, but, some things aren't that simple.

"Huh… I'm getting some strange readings…" said Ballade. He paused, before he panicked.

"WATCH OUT! We're heading for a time anomaly!" Ballade shouted. Not liking the sound of that, I spoke up.

"Time anomaly? What are they?" I asked in a panic. Ballade looked grim.

"Time anomalies are strange dimensional screw-ups that can occur in portals. Sometimes they occur naturally, but not always. This one is definitely unnatural. And the energy signature spells 'Q-U-I-N-T'," said Ballade. Trance became outraged.

"WHAT? Quint is attacking us during time travel?" he shouted. Ballade nodded grimly.

"Ugh. Unfortunately he must have figured us out and now he's sending attacks down portals, creating temporary time anomalies and hoping we get caught in one. If this one does catch us we could get blown off course is we're lucky, we could die if not so lucky," said Ballade. Bolt gave an exasperated shout.

"I've always wanted to die this way!" he shouted, sarcastically. Antonio pointed at a green whirlpool in front of us.

"Is that the time anomaly?" he asked. Ballade nodded.

"That's it! Brace yourselves!" he shouted. We were sucked into the whirlpool, and I blacked out…

------------------------

(3rd person)

Back in the future, Enker was pacing back and forth anxiously. What was taking Ballade so long? Enker shook his head. He really needed to tame that terrible impatience of his. Ballade and the others would be alright… wouldn't they?

---------------------

(3rd person)

Draco was carrying Sakugarne on his shoulder. The small red jackhammer squealed all the way. Draco, trying to make sense of the squeals, listened closely. Soon he got the message and set Sakugarne down. He placed his feet on two panels and his hands on the handlebars. Sakugarne squealed in delight and took off bouncing like a kangaroo.

"Woohoo! Sakugarne, this is fun!" Draco shouted. It helped dissipate his worries about the others.

---------------------

(Hydro's POV)

I woke up to the sound of gunshots and cannon fire. The others were looking at a scene of battle.

"Hey, this looks like those Civil War reenactments I've seen on TV," said Crystal.

"Oh, but it's no act. This is the real deal. We're witnessing the Battle of Antietam in first person," said Ballade. Usagi was shocked.

"But if we're witnessing the Civil War, at Antietam, we've been knocked off course! We're not in the right place, and I assume the time period is wrong too," he said, before driving his sword into a nearby tree and withdrawing it. Ballade sighed.

"You're correct. Wrong place and wrong time. Who knows if we can get back on course?" Ballade sighed. Crystal flared her wings out.

"Ballade, we can't just give up! We have to get out of here now!" she shouted. Suddenly, I heard shouting tat wasn't from any of us. We turned around to see several Union soldiers looking at us.

"Who are those people?"

"Are they helping the Confederacy?"

"No, those are NOT Confederate soldiers!"

"They're monsters!"

At that, bullets and cannonballs came flying. Ballade, shocked, created a portal and we warped away from the battlefield.

----------------

(3rd person)

Enker was starting to feel worried. He was getting a sensation that Ballade was in trouble. Enker thrust his spear into the bark of a withered tree nearby.

"C'mon Ballade, don't screw up. At least call me and give me a status report!" Enker hissed under his breath. The pulled his spear out of the tree, then started marching back and fourth with the spear perched on his shoulder like a soldier carrying his musket. Enker tried to swallow his fear of losing Ballade.

--------------------

(Hydro's POV)

I woke up to the sound of a familiar voice. It was Father! Boy was I surprised! Somehow we wound up back in our own time.

"Hydro! What are you doing with Ballade? Why did you just come out of nowhere like that?" he asked. Before I could answer, a rather hysterical Mother grabbed me and hugged me.

"MY BABY'S SAFE!!!" she shouted, squeezing the life out of me. When she dropped me, I collapsed like a ton of bricks.

"Well, we do have some explaining to do…" said Ballade.

-----------------

END CHAPTER. Sorry for the wait, I was brain-dead on writing for a few days.


	12. Explaining Time

**Chapter 12**

**Explaining Time**

Ballade and I explained everything that had happened in the last few days. While I was explaining I noticed that StarLight was fidgeting in her chair. I personally didn't think anything was wrong with her, other then being a bit nervous about something.

After what was about an hour of explaining and answering questions, Draco walked in with Sakugarne.

"Hay I see everyone is back. Are you done with the mission yet?"

"No Draco we are…." I started to say but got interrupted by StarLight running up to him, and kissing him full on the lips. After about a minute, she parted from him.

She started to blush, "I'm sorry Draco; I just got excided when I saw you that I couldn't hold back my feelings." I wasn't sure Draco was completely with reality at this moment. The look on his face said he was in his own world. Sakugarne started to sequel, which seemed to bring him back to reality.

"Draco I have to say something right now, before I lose my courage. I think…I think…," I noticed that's she was having a really hard time, "I love you." With that she ran out the door. Draco was defiantly stunned by this.

"Well I would like to say I saw that coming but I didn't." Said Crystal . I don't think anyone did.

………………………………………………………………..

It was the next day when we decided to head out and find the last two time crystals. As Ballade opened a portal, our parents waved and wished us good luck. I didn't see Draco at all; even know he did say that he was coming with us. StarLight was defiantly a bit moody.

As we started to go through the portal, Draco showed up with Sakugarne.

"Sorry about being late, I just thought that I should bring Sakugarne with us."

None of us seemed to disagree with him so we quickly went through the portal.

…………………………………………………………………

(Third Person)

In the future Quint was thinking about his hatred of humans.

"Why do they try so hard to protect those creatures? None of it makes any sense to me."

As he thought about it, he started to think that maybe it was he was wrong about humans.

"Could I be wrong about this?"

Memories of his child hood came flooding back. All the pain, all the loneliness that he felt. All of it because of that old man, that human.

"How could I have thought I was wrong, even for a moment?"

He then flew off.

…………………………………………………………

(Back to Hydro)

When we came to it, I noticed that we where in a large forest. At first I thought that it was Rose Forest , or something like it, but nothing seemed right.

The trees didn't look like any trees that I've seen before. The climate was very humid.

"Ok where are we?" I heard Melody say out loud.

"We are in Monsteropolis, but I think it's sometime around the Jurassic Period." Said Ballade.

"So there are dinosaurs around here?"

As he said that a T-rex poked his head from around a tree and looked at us.

"Does that answer your question Bolt."

**End of Chapter 12**


	13. In The Time Of Dinosaurs

**Chapter 13: In The Time Of Dinosaurs**

"RUN FOR IT!"

"HELP!"

"THIS IS LIKE JURASSIC PARK!"

"ONLY FAR WORSE!"

"AND REAL!"

We were running away from the T-Rex. He was huge! I'd seen dinosaur bones in museums but wondered what encountering a real dinosaur would be like. Now I knew. The experience was scary. The huge dinosaur was running after us, roaring and threatening to stomp us flat! We were all screaming.

"Draco, do something! You're the lizard of the group! Maybe the dinosaur won't hurt you!" Melody shouted. Draco shook his head.

"That's not going to do it! I'm not totally a reptile, after all! Either he'll eat me or not fall for it!" Draco shouted. Ballade got an idea just then. He turned around and started running backwards. He pointed his arm cannons at the T-Rex and starting charging up both arm cannons and shoulder cannons.

"Super Ballade Cracker!" he yelled as explosive pellets struck the dinosaur at full force. The dinosaur couldn't take it and fell to the ground. His landing shook the ground. We ran into deep into the forest after that.

--------------

"THAT WAS CLOSE!" Trance shouted, following his speech with a buzzing synth for emphasis. Usagi kicked him.

"Shut up! There could be more dinosaurs!" he hissed. Trance looked ashamed of himself. Antonio shook his head.

"This time zone is dangerous! I propose we find the crystal and get out as soon as possible!" he said. Ballade started scanning the area with his sensor.

"According to my readings, the crystal is about a half mile away from here, heading south," he said. Crystal looked around nervously.

"Let's make it quick. I don't want to hang out with these giant lizards any longer," she said.

"Me neither, I hate lizards," said Melody. Tempo snorted.

"Melody you don't like anything that crawls on the ground. Me, I picked up a snake once. Remember how I put that snake in Mom's bed? How she SCREAMED?" said Tempo.

"How Dad grounded you for a week AND spanked you?" said Melody. Tempo backed off.

"Girls, just shut up and lets look for the crystal…" I said. We followed Ballade deeper into the forest.

---------------------

A while later we reached the spot where the crystal was supposed to be. We were greeted by a huge Triceratops.

"Another dinosaur?" Trance yelped. Ballade looked at the Triceratops.

"Don't worry, that's a plant-eater. We shouldn't have to worry about it…" he started to say. But then the Triceratops charged at us!

"What did you say about not worrying about it, Ballade?"

---------------------

(3rd person POV)

Enker was marching like a soldier still, but this wasn't helping to ease his anxiety anymore. He plopped down in the dust. He grabbed his communications device and stared at it.

"Ballade, could you tell me when and where you are? Send me a message, please…" he said to himself. Finally, he could stand it no longer and attempted to make contact.

"Ballade? This is Enker. Can you read me, over?"

--------------------

After we attacked the dinosaur and knocked it out, Ballade's communications device started beeping. He took it out and answered it. Reception was very fuzzy but we could tell it was Enker.

"Ballade! You… are… alright?" said Enker. The reception was, as I said, very fuzzy and Enker was cutting out.

"We're good Enker! We're about to get the fourth crystal!" He said. The blurry image of Enker nodded.

"Good! I… you luck!" he said before hanging up. Ballade proceeded to scan the ground. The special sensor started beeping like mad, and Ballade clawed through the dirt until he unearthed a green crystal.

"Alright! We have the fourth one! Let's go!" said Ballade. We disappeared into a portal, leaving the world of dinosaurs behind.

-----------------

(3rd person)

Back in the future, Quint was thinking again.

"Mmmf! Ballade has the fourth crystal! I can sense it! Why does he want to help humans? Those black souled things! But, the fifth and final crystal, it's here in this time period. If Ballade wants it, he has to be careful…" he said, before flying off.

-------------

END CHAPTER


	14. The Last Crystal

**Chapter 14**

**The Last Crystal**

"Hum… this is odd…" said Ballade.

"Yeah, where back in the future."

"I thought you said that we where going to the time period were the last crystal was."

"I did, it seems that cense we got 4 of the crystals, the last one finally showed up. Anyway it's in this direction."

……………………………………………….

About an hour later we where back were we first meet Enker. Soon after we got there he showed up.

"Hay, I'm guessing that you must have all the crystals then."

"No actually the last crystal that we need is somewhere here." Said Ballade.

"That's highly unlikely. I patrol this area constantly and I have yet to find anything unusual."

"Then what's that under your feet." Pointed out Draco.

Enker looked down to see a bright yellow crystal.

"My god, one of the crystals was right under my feet the whole time."

"If you where paying any attention, you would have saved us a whole lot of time!"

Everyone started to laugh.

"I see you found the last crystal. I guess I have to kill you all know."

We looked up to see Quint hovering above us. Before we could do anything he started to fire at us. Most of us moved out of the way but StarLight tripped.

"Ow."

"Good, an easy kill." He said as he charged his cannon and fired it. StarLight braced herself for the blow…

"No!" was all that I heard.

I turned back to see Draco had blocked the shot with his own body. I could tell that he was badly damaged.

"Draco…why?" said StarLight with tears in her eyes.

"I think…I… started to fall for…you…I don't…want to see…you hurt." With that he collapsed.

"Draco? Draco? Draco!"

"Such a weak person. To have cared for someone that he would risk his own life to save it. Pathetic." Quint started to laugh.

I looked over to StarLight again. Tears flowed freely now.

"Weak? How dare you call him weak! I'll show you a real demon Quint! I won't rest until I HAVE KILLED YOU!" With that she took off her collar and started to change. Vines started to wrap around her body. Soon her form was complete. Quint was surprised.

"What? When on earth did you get the ability to do that? No matter, I see you don't have wings so as long as I…Whoa!"

StarLight had already jumped on him and was viscously tearing him apart with her fangs.

"Get off me!"

He then ripped her off and threw her to the ground. He started to fire where she landed creating a large cloud of smoke.

"That should have killed her…what the heck?"

The smoke cleared to reveal StarLight with half of her body gone. Most of the remaining vines wiggled around, before repairing her body. Soon it was if she had never even started to fight.

"What are you?"

She roared and fired thorns in his direction. Most of the thorns went into his wings, creating many holes. Quint was having a real hard time keeping himself in the air.

"Dam you! I'll be back!"

He started to fly away. When he was no longer in sight, StarLight changed forms and fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry Draco… I couldn't kill him for you…" She then shut her self down.

Enker and Ballade where already looking Draco over.

"Is he going to be ok?" I asked.

"It isn't as bad as it looks. He should live, however he is going have to rest." Enker.

I was happy to hear that.

"Ballade lets get this over with. Can you open a portal to the Temple of Time ?"

"Now that I have all the crystals it won't be that hard."

With that he started to chant, soon the crystals started to form a circle. From this circle came a blue portal.

"Ok hurry it up. I have no idea how long this portal is going to last. Enker do you think you could carry StarLight and Draco with us? I don't think leaving them here would be the best thing."

"No problem." He picked them both up and carried them on his shoulders. We quickly went into the portal.

Inside, they was a place that looks a lot like the ruins of ancient Greece, only the whole place was buildings and stone pillars. It was as dark as the future.

"Well this is the place. Let's hurry up and get to the temple."

**End of Chapter 14**


	15. The Temple of Time

**Chapter 15: The Temple Of Time**

We passed through a dark area filled with all these stone pillars and buildings. As we explored the area I noticed many writings on the wall. Depictions of many things covered the walls. But one thing caught my eye. The depiction of a humanoid in blue, being raised up by an elderly man in the picture. I stopped the group.

"Look! I think the walls here are depicting Father's story!" I said. There were pictograms depicting the Robot Masters from Father's first adventure, and the Yellow Devil, and others. Father's other adventures were written on the walls.

"Fascinating. The robot they called Mega Man… your father?" asked Ballade. I nodded. Antonio pointed his sword at other things inscribed.

"Look here. This depicts what looks like Tempo and Melody's father… killing a human? And then feeling remorse for it…" he said. Tempo squealed and pointed at another picture.

"And here he meets Mom! And here they are stopping evil computer viruses from outer space, that turned out to be not evil, but ruled by a bad king!" shouted Tempo. Melody pointed at following pictures.

"And here is the ghost of that guy Dad killed, trying to kill dad, but failing in the end! And then, Tempo and I were born!" Melody shouted. Trance pointed at yet another set of pictures.

"And here is the attack on Light Laboratories! Our first adventure!" he shouted with glee.

"Good times, good times," said Bolt, smiling. I smiled. Ballade looked at us.

"This place, the Realm Beyond Time, is special. Major events are inscribed on the walls. Look before your adventures, at other walls," said Ballade. I looked. History was recorded on these walls. The Revolutionary War… the first and second World Wars… so many historical events… recorded on the walls of the Realm Beyond Time. Antonio scrambled to one wall with pictograms of knights and kings.

"Maybe if we look at the time period of the Dark Ages… maybe we can…" he said. Ballade grabbed Antonio.

"It's best we head to the Time Temple and place the crystals back in their proper places. Since we have found the Hall of History we're not far from the Time Temple's core," said Ballade. We followed him back down the Hall of History. I just had to gaze at the walls. I noticed that in some places deep down the walls were bare, with lines forming slowly.

"Ballade, what's…" I started to ask, but he answered.

"The bare walls are the unwritten future. The forming lines are events of the distant future being written. The Realm is much farther ahead in time than you are," he said. I shrugged. Okay… interesting. I couldn't help noticing how some blue figure being drawn looked like Father to some extent, but was a little different, standing in a strange dimension, and being controlled by a human from outside that dimension…

----------------------

"There it is!" Ballade exclaimed. We had reached the Temple's core. Inside was a dais with five slots in it. Ballade brought out the crystals and approached the dais.

"Now… the blue one goes in… huh?" Ballade exclaimed. He looked embarrassed. He turned around.

"Kids… I don't know which one goes in which slot…" Ballade said, turning red. He shook his head and thought for a moment. Then he looked at the dais. He inserted the blue crystal into a random slot. It fit, and the edge of the slot started glowing blue. The sky outside grew a shade lighter. Ballade, feeling confident, inserted the purple crystal. The edge of its hole started glowing purple. The sky lightened a little more, and a light breeze began to blow. Ballade smiled.

"It's working. Things are returning to harmony with the more crystals I insert!" Ballade cheered. As he inserted the red crystal, the sky grew lighter and the wind picked up. Ballade inserted the yellow crystal, and soon the sky was no longer terribly dark, just grey, and a great wind was blowing.

"Alright! For the sake of the humans…" said Ballade, about to insert the last crystal.

"I think not," said a voice. Soon, Quint flew in and knocked the crystal out of Ballade's hand! Then, he tackled Ballade and started wrestling him.

"Quint!!!" Shouted Ballade.

"Let you save mankind? Those evil monsters?" said Quint.

"Mankind is not evil! There may be evil ones but not every human is bad!" Ballade screamed. Quint looked like he didn't believe it and continued to attack. Seeing the green crystal, I thought.

"Here goes nothing!" I shouted as I grabbed the crystal and ran to the dais. Quint saw me and tried to stop me but his reaction was badly timed. I had already shoved the last crystal into its place.

Suddenly, the sun started to break through the clouds! Green plants began to grow in the valleys below the temple! The sky turned blue!

"Agh! I can't stand it!" Quint shouted, covering his eyes. We all looked around. Ballade grinned.

"Hydro, you did it…" he said. Trance started to play a joyful sounding techno song. We all began dancing to it. As it resounded through the realm, we thought the realm itself danced with us as peace was restored.

Our joy was abruptly halted when the temple began to shake.

"We're being…" Ballade started, but we were all consumed by a huge spatial shockwave.

--------------------

When I woke up, we were in Ballade's time, but all was changed. The world was bright, and all destruction done to the cities and forests were undone. Humans were there. Ballade was smiling, while Quint, returned to his original form, was pouting. Enker and a restored Draco were gawking at the new landscape. While were marveling at the new Future, a beautiful young woman ran up to us.

"Excuse me, robots, I'm looking for a robot boy… he was dressed in purple…" she started. Ballade ran up and squeezed her.

"Mother!" he shouted. The woman looked shocked.

"Ballade? Is that really you?" she asked. Ballade smiled.

"Yes, it's me, mother…" he said. I looked at the two.

"Ballade? That's your surrogate mother?" I asked. Ballade smiled.

"Yes, she took care of me when I lost my real parents. She loved me and treated me like her own child…" said Ballade. Quint looked disgusted.

"How do humans love? It makes no sense…" he said, and then tears came from under his visor. Ballade put a hand on Quint's shoulder.

"Quint… I know you were unloved as a child… want me to teach you about love?" he asked. Quint sniffed.

"I guess so…" said Quint. As they walked away, I smiled. A portal appeared, but before I left, I noticed a weapons chip and a note lying on the ground.

_**Dear Hydro,**_

_**I had fun adventuring with you. As a thank you, I give you this chip for my Ballade Cracker. I hope the weapon will serve you well. **_

_**Live in peace, and I hope we meet again.**_

_**Ballade**_

I smiled. Taking the chip and the note, and installing the chip into my arm, I returned to my time.

---------------

(The Present)

When I got home, everyone wanted to hear of how things went.

"We succeeded. The future is peaceful now," I said. At this, Father proposed that we have a party.

Before the party that evening, Draco was outside looking at the setting sun, with Sakugarne in his lap.

"What's on your mind, Draco?" I asked.

"Nothing much, but don't you think Ballade and company are partying in the future right now?" he said. As I considered this, I thought I saw Ballade's face in the setting sun, laughing.

I wonder what big adventure we'll get ourselves into next time…

-------------------

THE END.


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